SCAN: News and resources for Southern California appellate lawyers, featuring the Second and Fourth District Courts of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Um, is there a(n appellate) lawyer in the house?

To see a somewhat unusual way for an appeal to get dismissed, read this messy situation (here), which, 15 pages later, ends like this:

Thus, appellants Camellia Valley Supply, Inc. and CV Supply, Inc. are without legal counsel on this appeal. “ . . . [U]nder a long-standing common law rule of procedure, a corporation, unlike a natural person, cannot represent itself before courts of record in propria persona, nor can it represent itself through a corporate officer, director or other employee who is not an attorney. It must be represented by licensed counsel in proceedings before courts of record. [Citation omitted.]” (CLD Construction, Inc. v. City of San Ramon (120 Cal.App.4th 1141, 1145; Paradise v. Nowlin (1948) 86 Cal.App.2d 897, 898.) Being without counsel, Camellia Valley Supply, Inc.’s and CV Supply, Inc.’s appeal must be dismissed.